no more T tops?!

[BigDaddy04sho]

Whats going on you guys? I bought a 86 Trans Am a while back, and all its done is beat me down like a circus monkey... Besides puttin in a new motor, the body was worst then imagined...... My T tops are gone... the whole top is rotted out and is gonna be to much work to restore.. What im thinking about doing is just cutting the Tbar off, and having them sit like the corvette Uni Top..... Im gonna add Long Sub Frame Conectors before i cut so that might help stress issues.......... I need some advise, or ideas on this project before i go on. Has Anyone ever done this before, or am i the only "smart" one thats going to do it....

[00 Ragtop Z]

Suggest you think about it for a while. Unless you so something to strengthed the unibody you could end up with a real swayback firebird there. The T-bar is the only thing stopping major sag in the body between the sub frames. Over time they sag badly enough WITH the t-bar in place.

My advice--don't do it

[BigDaddy04sho]

T top

Thanks for the advice buddy, but im really leaning on that idea though..... the actual T Bar has only about 3 inches of clean metal on there, everything else is body rot.. What i want to know or find out is the difrence on frame suport between the T top version and the Convertible. Does anyone know where i could find that kind of info? Theres no rush on the job... its been sitting in the garage for about a month of so. i got it running just to park it.... crazy huh?

[ConElite]

If you decide to do it I recommend some SFC and Maybe a 6 point Roll cage to keep he car from folding on itself.

[00 Ragtop Z]

My understanding is that the convertibles have a built in subframe assemsbly, essentially a factory subframe connector set, to strengthen the frame to prevent sag. More stout than the typical subframe connectors because aftermarket subframe connectors are designed more for unibody flex than for preventing sag (although they help with that too).

Hope it works well for you.